My oldest son, wrestling with a 4-year-old’s happy struggles, is trying to clarify how many people can be his best friend. “My best friends are you and Mama and my brother and …” But even a child’s joy is not immune to this ominous political period. This summer’s images of violence in Charlottesville, Va., prompted an array of questions. “Some people hate others because they are different,” I offer, lamely. A childish but distinct panic enters his voice. “But I’m not different.”

It is impossible to convey the mixture of heartbreak and fear I feel for him. Donald Trump’s election has made it clear that I will teach my boys the lesson generations old, one that I for the most part nearly escaped. I will teach them to be cautious, I will teach them suspicion, and I will teach them distrust. Much sooner than I thought I would, I will have to discuss with my boys whether they can truly be friends with white people.

Here’s a suggestion: teach them respect. Teach them that someone “disrespecting you” is not an occasion to become violent. Teach them to obey commands from law enforcement. You can always complain up the ladder and/or get council in a secure, controlled facility. Teach them that learning is a good thing.

History has provided little reason for people of color to trust white people in this way, and these recent months have put in the starkest relief the contempt with which the country measures the value of racial minorities.

Let me point out that the people who were rioting and destroying Black neighborhoods and such were Black people. But, hey, let’s teach Blacks to hate Whites. It’ll work our well, eh?

In essence, the Professor writes, we can all pretend to be friends, we can be civil and be polite – but a white person who supports Donald Trump cannot be a trusted friend to a Black person. And as a Black parent, how do you teach your children to know the difference between a decent white person and a tRump supporter?

TEACH: Does that really describe racism against white people? Is the mere criticism of white tRump supporters racism?

You should read the essay with an open mind and then re-examine your response.

How can any decent American have a true friend who supports the messages of tRump? That was the author’s point. Perhaps the author, naive to a fault, is just now discovering that white superiority is the cornerstone of conservative political strategy.

On cue, TEACH leapt in blaming Black people for all the problems and proceeds to defend white superiority. He misses the point of the essay – and TEACH and white people suddenly but become the aggrieved – How dare this Black man criticize white people?!?

Professor Yankah concludes:

But there is a difference between disagreeing over taxes and negotiating one’s place in America, the bodies of your children, your humanity. Our racial wound has undone love and families, and ignoring the depths of the gash will not cause it to heal.

We can still all pretend we are friends. If meaningful civic friendship is impossible, we can make do with mere civility — sharing drinks and watching the game. Indeed, even in Donald Trump’s America, I have not given up on being friends with all white people. My bi-ethnic wife, my most trusted friend, understands she is seen as a white woman, even though her brother and father are not.

Among my dearest friends, the wedding party and children’s godparents variety, many are white. But these are the friends who have marched in protest, rushed to airports to protest the president’s travel ban, people who have shared the risks required by strength and decency.

There is hope, though. Implicitly, without meaning to, Mr. Trump asks us if this is the best we can do. It falls to us to do better. We cannot agree on our politics, but we can declare that we stand beside one another against cheap attack and devaluation; that we live together and not simply beside one another. In the coming years, when my boys ask again their questions about who can be their best friend, I pray for a more hopeful answer.

We disagree that this is racism. It is not racism to criticism tRump supporters.

What woman was I defending? And please explain how my defense of Professor Yankah’s words was “pathetic”. Or do you prefer not to discuss any substance?

Ekow N. Yankah is a Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Columbia University School of Law and a B.C.L., a post-graduate law degree from Oxford University, where he was awarded a Lord Crewe Scholarship.

In essence, the Professor writes, we can all pretend to be friends, we can be civil and be polite – but a white person who supports Donald Trump cannot be a trusted friend to a Black person.

That works both ways, doesn’t it? Since black Americans gave 89% of their votes, it is plainly obvious: anyone who supported Mr Trump’s candidacy can, and should, realize that almost no black American can be a trusted friend.

If Jeffrey supports Professor Yankah’s discrimination, he must, inter alia, support discrimination by anyone who voted for Mr Trump against blacks; that is the logical extent of his argument.

Nice try. You can dislike whomever you want for whatever reason you want, including skin color or because you, like dave, think you are superior to non-white people.

Dr. Yankah did not describe discrimination – in fact he advocated the opposite. You consider a Black man not welcoming your friendship as discrimination? If the professor gave you a C based on your leucism, when you earned a B, THAT would be discrimination. Not trusting you because of your color might be considered bigotry – a concept with which most conservatives are comfortable.

Again, here is what Professor Yankah wrote:

We can still all pretend we are friends. If meaningful civic friendship is impossible, we can make do with mere civility — sharing drinks and watching the game. Indeed, even in Donald Trump’s America, I have not given up on being friends with all white people.

You now want to distrust Black people because they didn’t vote for tRump who ran a racist campaign (NB – we understand that some tRump supporters still do not think he ran a racist campaign)? That’s your right and we suspect most Black people won’t suffer for your lack of civility toward them – they’re used to attitudes of white superiority and racial animus. Perhaps, just perhaps, you could try to put yourself in the position of an American minority and examine the impact the tRump campaign and presidency has on them.

The good professor must, himself, have white colleagues with whom he must interact on every working day. He just told them all that no, he cannot trust them due to the color of their skins. Even if he didn’t think he was saying that, he was.

His children will have to go through life interacting with white people in school, in college and in their professional lives, yet he is teaching them that they cannot trust any of those white people. He is, in fact, crippling them, educationally and professionally.

One wonders: does he advocate resegregation of schools, so his children won’t be exposed to the Evil White People?

One could not find any hint that Professor Yankah advocate segregation. In fact, the professor advocated treating white people better than Black people have been, and are now treated, by many white people.

He wrote:

We can still all pretend we are friends. If meaningful civic friendship is impossible, we can make do with mere civility — sharing drinks and watching the game. Indeed, even in Donald Trump’s America, I have not given up on being friends with all white people.

Certainly, he is more open to white people than many commenters here are to Black people. Professor Yankah was expressing the opinion that it would be very difficult for a Black person to be a genuine, trusted and true friend with a tRump supporter.

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